Grease
Grease is a 1971 musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. Named after the 1950s United States working- class youth subculture known as greasers, the musical is set in 1959 at fictional Rydell High School (based on William Howard Taft School in Chicago, Illinois and follows ten working-class teenagers as they navigate the complexities of peer pressure, politics, personal core values, and love. The score borrows heavily from the sounds of early rock and roll. In its original production in Chicago, Grease was a raunchy, raw, aggressive, vulgar show. Subsequent productions sanitized it and tamed it down. The show mentions social issues such as teenage pregnancy, peer pressure and gang violence; its themes include love, friendship, teenage rebellion, sexual exploration during adolescence, and, to some extent, class consciousness/class conflict. Jacobs described the show's basic plot as a subversion of common tropes of 1950s cinema, since the female lead, who in many 1950s films transformed the alpha male into a more sensitive and sympathetic character, is instead drawn into the man's influence and transforms into his fantasy. Grease was first performed in 1971 in the original Kingston Mines nightclub in Chicago (since demolished). From there, it has been successful on both stage and screen, but the content has been diluted and its teenage characters have become less Chicago habitués (the characters' Polish-American backgrounds in particular are ignored with last names often changed) and more generic. At the time that it closed in 1980, Grease's 3,388-performance run was the longest yet in Broadway history, although it was surpassed by A Chorus Line a few years later. It went on to become a West End hit, a successful feature film, two popular Broadway revivals in 1994 and 2007, and a staple of regional theatre, summer stock, community theatre, and high school and middle school drama groups. It remains Broadway's 15th longest-running show. Grease was adapted in 1978 as a feature film also named Grease, which added plot elements and songs not in the original musical. These revisions have been incorporated into revivals of the musical (John Farrar, who wrote two of the new songs, is credited alongside Jacobs and Casey for the music in these productions). A 2016 live TV musicalused elements from both the original stage version and the film.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grease_(musical) Synopsis It’s 1959, and Rydell High School’s senior class is in rare form. The too-cool-for-school “Burger Palace Boys” are stealing hub-caps and acting tough and their gum-snapping, chain-smoking “Pink Ladies” are looking hot in bobby sox and pedal pushers. The 1950s high school dream is about to explode in this rollicking musical that is both an homage to the idealism of the fifties and a satire of high schoolers’ age-old desire to be rebellious, provocative and rebellious. At the heart of the story is the romance between hot-rodding gangster Danny Zuko and the sweet new girl in town, Sandy Dumbrowski. They had a secret romance in summer, but now back in the context of school, peer-pressure and cliques make their love a bit more complicated. Can Danny maintain his cool dude status and still get make demure Sandy his girl? The whole gang sings and dances around Danny and Sandy’s romance, through such hit songs as "Greased Lightnin'", "We Go Together”, and “Mooning”, recalling the music of Buddy Holly, Little Richard and Elvis Presley that became the soundtrack of a generation. Starting off with an eight-year Broadway run, Grease is among the world’s most popular musicals and has a cult-like following, especially among teens!http://stageagent.com/shows/musical/1094/grease Characters Danny Zuko – The leader of the Burger Palace Boys; good-looking, strong and confident, with an air of easy-going charm Sandy Dumbrowski – New girl in town; sweet, wholesome, naive, cute, and innocent Betty Rizzo – Leader of the Pink Ladies; tough, sarcastic and outspoken but vulnerable Frenchy – a dreamer; good-natured but not too smart, she is heavily made up, fussy about her appearance, particularly her hair. She can’t wait to finish high school so she can be a beautician Marty – the ‘beauty’ of the Pink Ladies; pretty and looks older than the other girls, but betrays her real age when she opens her mouth. She tries to act sophisticated. Jan – Funny, loud, compulsive eater and awkward member of the Pink Ladies. Loud and pushy with the girls, but shy with boys Doody – the youngest of the guys; small, boyish and open, with a disarming smile and a hero-worshipping attitude towards the other guys. He also plays the guitar. Kenickie – the second in command of the Burger Palace Boys; tough-looking, tattooed, surly and avoids any show of softness. He has an offbeat sense of humor. Sonny LaTierri – a member of the Burger Palace Boys; funny Italian-American, he is a braggart and wheeler-dealer who thinks he’s a real lady-killer Roger – the anything-for-a-laugh stocky type of boy; a clown who enjoys winding people up, he is full of mischief and is always dreaming up half-baked schemes and ideas Vince Fontaine – a typical ‘teen audience’ disc jockey; slick, egotistical and fast-talking. He is also a veteran ‘Greaser.’ Cha-Cha, aka Charlene DiGregorio – the best dancer at St. Bernadette’s; a loud mouth, she wins the dancing competition with Danny. Eugene Florczyk – the class valedictorian; physically awkward, with weak eyes and a high-pitched voice. He’s a typical teacher’s pet – both smug and pompous, but gullible. Johnny Casino – All-American, rock-star “greaser” student at Rydell High, whose real name is Clarence Miss Lynch – A no-nonsense, serious, loud, English teacher Patty Simcox – a typical cheerleader; attractive, athletic, sure-of-herself, but can be given to bursts of disconcerting enthusiasm. She’s a bit of a pain and unpopular with the Pink Ladies, and can twirl a baton. The Pink Ladies – the club-jacketed, gum-chewing, hip-swinging girls’ gang who hang around with the Burger Palace Boys. The Burger Palace Boys – A super-cool, DA-haired, hard-looking group of high school wheeler-dealers… or so they think. http://www.theatricalrights.com/show/grease/#show-casting-information Songs